Bill indexing and sorting device.



G. O. SHEPHERD. BILL INDEXING AND SOR'IING DEVICE.

APYLIOATION FILED JUHE10.1908.

Patented Nov. 21, 1911.

f lvi/hwoo m//%Ma UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GILBERT C. SHEPHERD. OF NEW YORK. N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS. T0 OFFICE SPECIALTIES DELUXE, INCORPORATED, OIE WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS,

A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

BILL INDEXING AND SORTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2!, 1911.

To all whom it may concern.

may be altered to suit any reiptiremeuts.

lle it known that l. (lulu-1m Hui-ammo), 1 The sheets with the several folds are, until a citizen of the United States, and a resident. of the borough of Brooklyn. in the city of New York, county of Kings. and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bill Indexing and Sorting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a hill indexing de vice. A system of preparing hillsol' statements has lately come into use and the object of my invention is to produce a device which will facilitate in the preparing and handling of such statements. whereby time and annoyance will he saved and at a veri small cost. At the present time many business concerns prepare their bills or statements in duplicate, triplicate and so forth and then sepa rate the several copies, sending them to the dehtor at desired intervals and using other copies for record and so forth. My invention relates to the formation of the hills or sheets themselves, and my invention is particularly useful where statements are temporarily tiled in a holder and items added to them, say during the month it' hills are sent monthly, and at the end ol' the month the copies are disposed of as referred to.

My invention includes a hill sheet for such sorting having stepped tahs so arranged as to aid in the assorting and handling of the sheets.

In the drawings l'orming a part ol' this application, Figure l is a perspective view of my improved device, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of some of the hill sheets. Fig. ll is a perspective view showing a hill sheet amt Fig. l is a similar view ol another sheet.

The sheets especially adapted l'or this device and system are as follows: manifold sheet is provided with suilahle headings printed thereon, ruling and the like. which is folded upon itself any numher of times.

according to the numher of copies of the hill or statement that are to he made and ill the examples which I have here shown the) are folded to provide three hlanlts, wherehy the hill may he made out. in triplicate.

lly reference to Fig. 3 it will he seen that the sheet 2) is folded along perforated lilies l0 and it so that there is provided the two full length folds l2 and 13 amt a shorter told 14, though the proportions of these folds severed, a unit and it would he diflicult to select an one of them from the group owing to there being several folds. To avoid confusion and assist in the handling of the sheets I have provided stepped tabs. The sheet shown in Fig. 3 for instance, is say the front one of the group to be used in the receptacle, and there is provided'at the upper edge a stepped tab 15 on fold 19. and a similar tab 113 on told 13. In making the hills- I contemplate making them so thatv the \arions tabs on the folds of any given sheet will overlap and they should coincide so that when handling the sheets, by grabbing the tab, all or at least several of the folds of that one sheet will be. gripped by the lingers together, to withdraw the sheet from the pack. Fig. 4 illustrates a sheet which would come near the rear, and in this case the tah may come on all three folds. As shown in Fig. 1, the sheets when placed in the receptacle have their various tabs stepped, that is, the tab of each successive sheet extends along farther than the preceding one and a leader sheet 17 is provided at the rear,

1 which extends beyond the stepped tabs and is provided with indicating means, such as letters or figures 18. By taking hold of the tah opposite the letter or numeral representing the statement of a certain deh'or, the statement. desired may he readily reuunett and any matter added amt it is then returned. Instead of using a leader sheet, I can place the ind'aitiug means, such as the numer'als, on the stepped tahs themselves, as shown in Fig. 2, though I prefer the former arrangement as it is more readily carried out.

l helieve I am the lirst. to use a sheet which is l'olded upon itself and every one of the folds of which has a tah. For instance the sheet shown in Fig. -.t might he used without the fold 1L and still have some of the advantages of my invention, so long as the lah ll extends above the sheet. 1-1 and so long as the tab is on one ol the tree edges of the sheet as distinguished from the folding edge.

Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. in a billing device, a plurality of. separate sheets, each vertically folded upon itself, a plurality of folds of the said sheets from the folds, the tabs of the several folds hm ing end tabs on their upper ed es exof a sheet coinciding in position with each tOIlllll] from the folds, the tabs of t e sevother and the tabs of the several sheets be- 15 em] fo ds of a sheet coinciding in position ing stepped, whereby the folds of a sheet 5 with each other, and the tabs of several can be selected as a unit, each sheet having sheets being step ed at varying distances a shorter narrow fold at the opposite end. from said vertica folds, W ereby all the Signed at the city, county and State of folds of a sheet may be selected as a unit. New York this 30th day of May, 1908.

2. In a billing device, a plurality of G. C. SHEPHERD. 10 separate sheets each folded upon itself near Witnesses:

its center, a, plurality of folds of eaeh sheet EDWARD D. G. SPERRY,

having tabs on their upper edges extending ARTHUR A. DACRET. 

